Film shines light on elder abuse
Stories shared in hope of sparing others
By Ken Carlson
Mar. 11, 2009
Telvina Dias wished she hadn't opened the door four years ago when a repairman offered to inspect her mobile home in Turlock.
First, the repairman said the sewer pipe behind the home needed to be replaced. Then, he gave Dias an estimate for $12,000 in repairs that she didn't need, including $6,000 for a new water heater.
Before long, a second man arrived.
"He said, if you can't give me $6,000 for the water heater, then at least give me $2,500," said Dias, who was then 82. "I gave it to him because by that time I was scared."
The two men ripped out and broke the water heater, then left to cash the $2,500 check. It cost her $500 to replace the unit.
Dias' ordeal is one of the cases featured in "Secrets in America: The Crisis of Elder Abuse," a documentary produced by the Stanislaus County communications department.
The documentary tells how the two scam artists were not able to cash Dias' check and later were convicted. It includes interviews with Emmy Award-winning actress and senior advocate Doris Roberts and national experts on elder abuse. The half-hour film will be shown Thursday evening at the Gallo Center for the Arts to launch a public education project and introduce the nonprofit Stanislaus County Senior Foundation, a group formed to supplement dwindling resources for seniors.
From valley to D.C.
The documentary was shot at locations in Stanislaus County, the Bay Area and other parts of the country, so it can be shown to a broader audience, said county Communications Director David Jones, who wrote and directed the piece.
Funding was limited, including $12,000 in grants from the Stanislaus Community Foundation and Kaiser Permanente. Jones used friends and other volunteers to shoot footage from San Francisco to Washington, D.C.
Elder abuse takes many forms, whether it's home repair scams, physical abuse or seniors losing their hard-earned savings to a trusted caregiver or family member.
In Stanislaus County, reports of elder abuse rose from 1,490 in 2003-04 to a peak of 1,840 in 2006-07, before dipping to 1,700 last year. Reports of financial abuse are on pace this year to exceed the 400 cases in 2007-08, said Anne Danhoff, director of the county's Adult Protective Services unit.
The unit has lost three staff people to budget cuts since October 2007, leaving it with seven social workers and a public health nurse.
Because only a small percentage of cases are reported, the national magnitude of elder abuse isn't fully known. Experts believe it will get worse as the nation's senior population swells to more than 71 million by 2030.
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